Effective February 11, 2011, and May 9, 2011, are new FINRA rules that extend certain Regulation NMS protections to quoting and trading of over-the-counter (OTC) Equity Securities. For OTC Equity Securities, these new rules:

set forth the permissible pricing increments for the display of quotations and acceptance of orders;

require firms to avoid locking and crossing quotations within an inter-dealer quotation system;

establish a cap on access fees imposed against a firm’s published quotation; and

require an OTC Market Maker, subject to certain exceptions, to display the full size of customer limit orders that improve the price of the marker maker’s displayed quotation or that represent more than a de minimis change in the size of the market maker’s quote if at the best bid or offer (BBO).